History
In 1964, Ed Parker held his first “International Karate Championships” (IKC) in Long Beach, California, which became the largest Martial Arts tournament in the US for many years. The IKC´s brought out some of the best martial artists from around the world.
In 1982 the first IKC Europe was held in Jersey hosted by Roy Mc Donald, with Mr Parker as special guest.
The second IKC Europe in 1983 was in Willich, Germany. It was Rainer Schulte, being the European director for the I.K.K.A. at that time, that started this IKC Europe in order to give some of the European I.K.K.A. members a chance to compete at the I.K.K.A. level, since most could not afford to travel to Long Beach. The original 3 coloured IKC flame patch was altered to the Black & Silver version for these yearly events.
In the following years there were still the “Internationals” in Long Beach each year, while there was also a European Camp or Tournament being held in the following countries:
1984-1988 | Jersey CI |
1990 | Exeter UK |
1991 | Plymouth UK |
At a meeting held in Exeter, England in early 1990 Mr. Parker had spoken of his desire to see annual tournaments held in Europe and was particularly interested in seeing one held in Dublin. This meeting was attended by the following European I.K.K.A. instructors: Roy MacDonald, Graham L’Elliot, Paul Dowling, Shay McNamee, Ed Downey, Mervyn Ormand, Garry Ellis, Jakki McVicar, and Jose Maria Gutierrez.
Following to that meeting, successful I.K.K.A. events were held annually with Mrs Parker attending as I.K.K.A. president in:
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1991 Ireland | '92-'94 Jersey | 1995 Spain | 1996 Jersey |
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1997 Holland | 1998 Greece | 1999 Ireland | 2000 Jersey |
In 2001 Mrs Leilani Parker and the I.K.K.A. took the “Internationals” and made it a truly International event, by travelling to the following I.K.K.A. Countries…
2001 Portugal 2002 Spain 2003 USA 2004 Ireland
2005 Greece 2006 Holland 2007 Mexico 2008 Jersey CI
2009 USA 2010 USA 2011 Spain 2012 Holland
2013 USA 2014 USA
Being held from 1964 ’till 2014, the IKC´s have been the longest running Martial Arts event in history.
‘The flame still burns’
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2018 Germany | 2019 Holland | 2020 Holland |
All IKKA European members gather twice a year at the IKKA-Europe Training Camp being organised in a different European country and the annual European Championships. Below you’ll find the upcoming events.
2017 | Tongerlo, Belgium | 27/29 Oct. |
2018 | Exeter, England | 27/29 Apr. |
2018 | European Championships, “The Experience” | 20/23 Sept. |
2019 | Pescara, Italy | 26/28 Apr. |
2019 | European Championships, ‘The Experience” | 24/27 Oct. |
2020 | Odense, Denmark | 8/10 May |
2020 | European Championships, “The Experience” | 22/24 Oct. |
2021 | Nice, France | t.b.a. |
2021 | European Championships, “The Experience” | t.b.a. |